Music mogul Clive Davis tells of heartbreak over Whitney Houston death

Reuters Staff

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LONDON(Reuters) - For music mogul Clive Davis, one memory stands out from a six-decade career - the sudden death of long-time collaborator Whitney Houston.

The Grammy-winning record producer and executive - and subject of a new documentary "Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives" - met the future star singer when she was an untested teenager.

"Whitney and I formed this creative collaboration, right from the beginning when she was 19 years old, and chose together every song that she ever recorded," Davis said.

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Houston won six of her own Grammys in a 25-year career that was marred by drug and alcohol problems and a turbulent marriage to singer Bobby Brown. She died in 2012 aged 48, after drowning in a hotel bathtub.

"Her death was so startling and unexpected – there is that analogy when someone dear to you, and it brought back the loss of my parents - how you can be affected by this tragedy," he told Reuters.

"The film does make clear that I might have been a little bit more vigilant earlier. But once I became aware of the seriousness of Whitney's addiction, I acted," he added.

The documentary ranges further over his career, with interviews with other artists he worked with from Aretha Franklin and Alicia Keys to Sean "Puffy" Combs, Patti Smith and Paul Simon.

FILE PHOTO: Singer Whitney Houston waves at the crowd next to Clive Davis at the conclusion of her performance at the 2009 Grammy Salute to Industry Icons event. Picture taken February 7, 2009.